Forecast Calls For Sewing -12 Hours of Sewing Ahead!

A while back I received an embroidery machine as a gift. It was one of the nicest surprises I have every received and actually brought tears to my eyes. Thing is, I haven’t had a lot of time to use it. I sew almost every day, but I sew, not machine embroider.

This coming weekend I have an all-day sew day planned with my favorite sewing group. That’s 12 hours, 9 AM – 9 PM of sewing bliss. This time I’m only bringing the embroidery machine and a couple of little projects that aren’t so much sewing but prepping.

I thought I would let anyone play around with it and introduce others to machine embroidery. Here’s a few projects I’m thinking of bringing.

Embroidering on tea towels is fairly fail-proof. Embroidering on cotton is a wonderful beginner project. Plus I have some super cute designs I can use.

Since I sew a lot of garments I thought embroidering a collar would be fun. On Saturday I’m going to test a few designs on a collar pattern.

Making 3D embroidered butterflies might be a little ambitious, working with organza and all. But, I do have black organza that I’m not doing or planning anything for. Black butterflies, -not really my thing but I think I want to try it anyway.

I think that will be it for now. I tend to over pack for days like this. I pack my car with so many projects I can barely see out the rear view mirror. This time I’m traveling light, just my embroidery machine and a few projects. I can’t wait to get started!

8 Responses to Forecast Calls For Sewing -12 Hours of Sewing Ahead!

Sounds like fun, if not a little ambitious! Especially if you have never done machine embroidery before. Make sure you research and have all the right stabilizers for all your projects. As for the butterflies, experiment with different thread colors and/or paints. Black would be the perfect base for Monarch Butterflies!!

I love the all-day sew you have planned for yourself. I’m hoping to have one this weekend (just by myself) and I hope to make 3 more holiday potholders (an in-the-hoop project) for my daughters and me. If by some miracle I get them all done, it’s time to start quilting 2 UFO tops I finished on my weekend quilt retreat.

I would use my embroidery machine to make corner bookmarks for members of the reading group I got to meet while on vacation as a “Thank You” for inviting me to their meeting and sharing words of wisdom and great food.

I had a 4 day sewing retreat I did a wall hanging , table topper,large duffle bag, retreat bag and started some pep on t-shirts for a quilt.I would love to spend 12 hours embroidering. I thing if you use bright colored threads on the black organza you could have some great butterflies.

The thing is, about your plan, machine embroidery is very boring once you’ve fed the project to the machine. You might need to be close by to change thread colors. I find myself with lots of time to sew on my regular machine while a design stitches out. Exp. cosmetic bags for mothers day embroidered with an applique butterfly (wonderful design from Emboidery Library.) As I restarted the 2nd one, I sewed in the zipper, did the side seams and turned it right side out. Didn’t have enough time to press before restarting the 3rd one. Mug Rugs are a wonderful project to embroider in a 5 x 7 hoop with stabilizer and batting. I’m starting the Father’s day mug rug project today with a nice “light” lighthouse that sews out in 8 minutes. If you’re planning to sew out a lot of projects that take a short time to embroider, you won’t need the 2nd machine. Another hint I found very helpful: make up your own kits for your projects with all the pieces of material, stabilizer, applique cuts, and threads ready to go in a Ziploc bag. And if you need the die line printed, like for an applique, be sure to print that out at home. Taking along some “pattern plastic” sheets would be a super thing to have along if your design calls for applique or any special placement.

Remember to take your tool kit and extra embroidery needles. I ALWAYS to a quick maintenance cleaning before taking the big machine out for an all day spin. (and again at the end of the day).

Most important, plan to have fun, share, listen to others’ ideas and what’s going on their lives. I think that’s the main reason we get together for days of sewing like this. Our sewing room at home can get to be a pretty lonely place.